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Saturday, October 30, 2010

So, last week, I posted VERY EARLY on Saturday, and today I sat down to post at 9:15PM! Apparently the only thing I am consistent with is the knitting! lol And since this is a knitting blog, first and foremost, here is some Knitting Knews. . .currently, this is what my 2nd November sock looks like:Originally, I had wanted to finish these before November even started so that I could focus on some BABY knitting, but it does not look like I will finish this one tomorrow (unless I stay up all night tonight, which is not totally out of the question, I suppose. . .we did have a Trunk-Or-Treat at the church this evening, so I am all sugared up. . .all-night knitting. . .I think I could manage. But then again, maybe I won't). By the way, here's our Trunk:

I knew that I had some orange and yellow fleece, so I got a little bit of green, and several bags of fiberfill, and there you have it! I also had one of those foam-y-fake pumpkins that I bought to carve several years ago, but never had done that, so I dug it out of the attic, and TA-DAAAA!!! Instant, perennial jack o'lantern! Our little pumpkin patch was very festive!

So it has been a busy day. . .giving blood this morning, knitting at the farm this afternoon, and trunks and candy tonight. . .and I have gotten some more CRAP out of my house this weekend! See this dinosaur? See it's replacement to the right?

Enter the 21st century for our home phone number (which is the same one we have had since we moved here in 1995). . .now that number rings to a simple cell phone! At first I wasn't sure, but I became convinced when I thought about 75% savings off our monthly home phone bill! Yay! Maybe it's a small thing, but it was crap, and it is now out! Go me!

But, I digress. I was saying how I wanted those socks done so I could concentrate on baby knitting. . .after all, this sweater is still armless. . .

But this one (just an easy 5-hour sweater) is a step in the right direction, finished socks or not! All it needs is a little button, and it will be ready for a very special snuggle bunny! This is the knitting I brought on Thursday night, to the meetup!

And it was quite a meetup! There were friends. . .

. . .and more friends. . .

. . .and more friends. . .

. . .and more friends! As a matter of fact, there were 21 knitters that showed up this week! I think that's a record for a single meeting for this group, and it was good to see the coffee shop full of yarn and knitters! Wait a minute. . .do you see that. . .in the lower, left corner?

Haha! Yes, it's College Girl, who has finally come over to the dark side, and started coming up on Thursdays to knit with us some weeks! Soooo fun!

But now it's time for Pretty Knitty to proof this post and put away the technology. . .there is a pair of November socks waiting on the sofa! I am so glad that you stopped by!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Seven adults in a minivan,Seven adults in a van!You squish three into that very back seat To fit seven adults in a minivan!

No, this is not a circus story, and none of us wore clown makeup. It was a little funny, though, to leave my house last Saturday at 5:45am for a family road-trip! Since I took pictures with my fancy, new phone, I thought I'd share some of the trip with you!

First, a little background. . .Sweetie's family comes from Pennsylvania on his Mom's side, so the trip took us to that neighboring state, with an estimated drive time from my In-Law's house to the first stop (breakfast) of 3 hours. Mom, Uncle (her brother), Aunt (his wife), Sister, Brother #3, Sweetie and I left Mom's house at 6:41am, and there were 7 of us in a minivan. . .for those of you who have minivans, or who have ridden in a minivan, you may remember that there are 7 seats in a minivan, but that back row is kinda tight for adult booties. I count myself pretty lucky that I was not one of the "backseat 3" (Sweetie, Sister and Brother#3) for most of the journey, but still, I was ready to stretch my legs when we got to the restaurant in Brookville.Indeed, I stretched my legs not only from the van to the restaurant, but also from the table to the buffet line several times!The food was pretty amazing, thick-cut, smoked bacon, eggs, hash browns, homemade biscuits and gravy with sausage, pancakes and waffles and the most scrumptious whole-grain bread toast, fruit and syrups, and PIE! Yes, there was pie on the breakfast buffet, and boy was it good!

Since it's almost winter, we drove for about an hour before the sun really started to come up, but the wait was well worth it. . .it was a beautiful day for a drive! After we had all eaten our fill at breakfast, we were on the road in search of some of the places that Mom and Uncle used to visit as kids with their parents. Papa is Mom and Uncle's dad, and he has been gone for a few years now, and I never did meet Sweetie's grandma on that side. He has some memory of her, but from what I understand, she passed away when he was quite young.

The first thing we were looking for was "Aunt Ruth's House," set on a hill, very close to a windy, hilly road in a town called Rossiter. There were steep upper and lower drives for cars, and a steep staircase to the front door, and steep seemed to be the adjective of the day! There were many memories shared and disputed as we did our drive-by shooting (photos!), but the thing they all remembered the same was that the house was not level. Apparently, it has such a pitch to it, that a glass of water looks crooked on the table, and if you put a ball on the floor (or any round-ish thing) at the "top" of a room, it will roll until it hits the far wall pretty hard!

Aunt Ruth was married to Uncle John, and Uncle John was actually a cousin of Papa's (Sweetie's grandfather). I guess John passed away well before Ruth, and Mom and Uncle agree that Ruth had some emotional issues over the years. . .but Sweetie had visited her at least once as a child. He says that he remembers being allowed to have pop and candy, and that she was kind to him, and that's a memory worth keeping.

We also drove past the house that we believe Papa grew up in, but without getting out of the van, the pictures were about impossible to take with the sun behind the house. However, on the other side of the street, or maybe on a parallel street around the "block," it was easy to get a picture of Saint Adrian Church. This is the church where all the family weddings, christenings and confirmations took place in Papa's day. It was 100 years old in 1989, and the building is stunning. . .

Very close-by, our next stop was the cemetery where many of the Pennsylvania relatives are buried. Papa is buried in Ohio, but John and Ruth are buried here, and several other relatives are as well. From the cemetery perspective, it was hard for me to remember who was who, and what all of the relations were exactly. . .but it was pretty cool to read the gravestones and admire the workmanship on these markers, some even have photos. And yes, there is a Yacko in the family! He and Catherine (who lived to be 100 years old!) were Papa's grandparents on his father's side. That makes them Sweetie's great-great grandparents! In this picture, Mom is in front, Sister is just to her left (snapping her own photo), Sweetie is there in the middle, Aunt is behind him, and Brother #3 (in the leather jacket) is on the right. It was something to see, family finding family here.

I think at this point, our driver was glad for some time to himself. He stayed in the (now spacious and empty) vehicle, and looked on. I am pretty sure that Uncle and Aunt and Mom have been here before, and 7 adults in a minivan makes for a long day of togetherness!

As though I need to prove the scale of 7 grown adults in a minivan to you, here is a shot as most of us prepare to pile back in. . .

And since we were so close to Punxsutawney, we stopped by to visit Phil. Here we are, Sweetie and I, with a giant statue of Punxsutawney Phil himself! (Look!, I can spell Punxsutawney!) This town has these on every corner, and they are sooooo funny! Sweetie said, "Want a picture?," as he started toward the giant ground hog, and I got ready. . .then, a random stranger said, "Would you like me to take a picture of both of you?" So I handed him my Droid, showed him how to take the pic, and headed to join Sweetie, where I struggled then to smile, thinking to myself the whole time, "OMYGOSH! I just handed my DROID to a perfect stranger! What was I thinking?!? What if he. . .?" At this point, the stranger said, "Hey! Looks like a nice shot. . .here ya go!," and he handed the phone back to me without incident.

(Sweetie was surprised that I handed the phone over, but he told me later that he thinks he could've taken the guy, so my Droid was never in any real danger - whew!)

Then we all took a look at Phil and friend, sleeping comfortably in their enclosure, probably preparing for a long winter's nap. . .

. . .and we were on the road again. Winding up and down and around the hilly highways of Pennsylvania, headed back toward home. The afternoon was just as pretty as the morning, and the ride was just as long, and the car was just as cramped, but home was on the horizon for all of us, and I think the day was pretty perfect! Interesting and fun, I love a good road trip. Next time Sweetie suggests seven in a minivan, tho, I may decline.

However, there was much knitting time! And I nearly finished the first of my November socks in that minivan! Here is a pic of sock 1, completed on Sunday. . .. . .and sock 2 should be ready for a heel flap by tomorrow's knit-night meetup, so I am jazzed. You see, I really want to finish the November socks before November gets here. . .because I have BABY KNITTING on the brain!

I have done a couple pairs of little socks for my granddaughter already, but I am itching to make a couple sweaters before the baby shower! I just wish I could decide on which sweaters I really want to make. . .I mean, the Wallabies can wait, because the smallest size is a 2, but there's the classic 5-hour, Helena, Scrappy Socky, and so many others. . .I have yarn, I am just not even sure where to start!

So there you have it! A little family fun, a little knitting knews, a little grand-baby-on-the-brain, and now the blog post is complete. I'm glad that you stopped by!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

It's been a very crafty week for a very crafty gal in the land of Pretty Knitty! I have been busy every day, getting home from work (and other things) after 8 almost every night this week! Friday was no exception, even though I left my "regular" job two hours early, there have just been so many errands and things, that my Pretty Knitty self is spinning inside it's head.Saturday promises more of the same. . .yikes! Thank goodness for my very smart phone, and thank you to Blogger for letting me write on Friday to publish on Saturday! I love you, truly I do, technology!!!You may ask yourself how I could have been so crafty this week, what with the working, and the party planning, and the visiting, and the church stuff, and the knitting meet-up, and the dozen phone calls and visits to the cell phone store to adjust my bill, and. . .well, you get the idea. But still I found the time. I am simply amazing. And humble. Prepare to be amazed.Remember "Knit Happy"? I had talked about the pins I was making for the etsy shop, and that I would be starting to list them this week. Well, I have finished putting all of them together (yay!), listed two of them here, and the rest are in this picture! I think they turned out pretty well. . .This one is my favorite of the Christmas themed pins. . .But I really like the dangles on this one, too. . .Honestly, I really don't know how I will part with them! Oh, wait. . .I remember! I can make more! Yay!Speaking of making things, something pretty fun happened to me this week. . .I was wearing my Harumi while shopping with College Girl, and a random shopper asked me where I bought it! I said, "Oh! I made it. . .," and she exclaimed, "Wow! It's great! You should sell them!" I thanked her, and considered that comment, but really. . .for a sweater this great, I think she should learn to knit! (I did not tell her this, I do not think she would have understood.)

I also received some compliments on the Baby Shower Invites I put together to celebrate the fact that we will soon have a Grand Daughter! That's right! They found out that it will be a girl! And she has a name! And we have planned a shower! Let the frilly, pink knitting begin! (Oh, and start thinking of a blog name for the little peanut before March!)

Now, don't get me wrong, there has already been some baby knitting! However, not knowing if it's a boy or girl meant that the first projects were not frilly OR pink! lol! There are a couple of sweaters planned, matching hats, a few pairs of baby socks going. . .I think there is almost nothing I love more right now than teensy-tinsy baby socks!

Although there is some competition! Marriage Lines is my November sock pattern, and they are well underway already, with sock one complete to the point of the heel flap! The yarn is Okay Knits Sawa-Sawa in the color "Sweetness," which is very thin (I am knitting on 2mm needles), but I love them already! And Saturday promises a LOT of car time, ripe with knitting possibilities!

Yes, it has been a crafty, busy week for Pretty! I look forward to a nice, long Sunday afternoon nap tomorrow! But, I am glad that I have had these few moments to stop in and say hello, and I am so happy to see you here! Don't forget to breathe, and I will try to remember to take my own advice!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

What do you do when you find out that some of your knitting friends are going to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival(in Rhinebeck, NY, which was on the map for knitters waaaay before Chelsea's wedding, by the way), and you can't go? Maybe your finances are tight, or maybe you can't get away from your job for an extended weekend. . .it's not that you don't want to go, you just can't. . .sigh!Several of us in the Cleveland Knits West group over on Ravelry were in just that predicament last weekend, but I think we made the best of it. After all, when life gives you alpaca. . .. . .large and small. . .. . .and a llama says, "Hey, Bay-bay!,". . .. . .and gives you a kiss. . .. . .well, then, maybe it's time for a West-of-Rhinebeck YARN CRAWL! You know, just like a beer crawl, but with yarn. . .just the thing for some enthusiastic knitters on a beautiful October Saturday! And really, we didn't miss the beer at all. . .we like wine better anyway! But even beyond our beverage of preference, when you talk about yarn (and acquiring more of it), knitters get pretty giddy! I think Andrea was even willing to hitchhike for yarn!None of us thought that was a very good idea, tho. . .so we piled into two cars and headed out to four different shops that are fairly local to us. Thank you Andrea and Judy for driving!(See Andrea, you have a perfectly good car. . .no extra thumb activity required!)First stop: Studio Knit(in Medina), where I contemplated silver and gold yarn for Christmas ornaments. . .. . .and Michelle contemplated the giant wall o'yarn. . .. . .and Annie contemplated which color(s) warranted the fact that she was signing over the rights to her firstborn. . .it didn't really matter. . .there was yarn to be had!Then we were on the road again, passing the people in cars who were not as excited to reach their next destination as we were, forgoing rest areas and racing ahead to. . .Our second stop: Black Locust Farm(in Lodi), where I picked up this funny book of "Kniticisms" and some sock yarn, as well as a couple of knitting knotions. . .. . .Judy and Michelle frantically fondled the sock yarns. . .. . .and Annie and Michelle contemplated the Zauberball!We all loved this small store (she has limited hours, so call ahead or check her group on Ravelry), but it's soooo worth it! One side note: she does not take credit cards, so have cash or your ATM card, there's a machine on the corner!We were hungry after all the shopping, so we stopped in at the Lighthouse in the center of Lodi, where the people eating lunch gave our giddiness a sideways glance, but still we gorged ourselves on good food! The burgers and onion rings are to die for. . .really! So, full and focused, we filed out and piled back into the cars and headed to our next destination!Third stop: Soft and Sassy (in Broadview Heights), where I had to decide between these two lace weight yarns (I chose the Legacy, even tho Daphne was gorgeous) for a wedding shawl that I hope to make for College Girl! There was also another ball of sock yarn, I think it was Trekking XXL. . .I was into the earth-tones and naturals apparently! Oh, Annie and Michelle ended up with a sweater's worth of bulky yarn to knit Aidez from Berroco. . .I am pretty sure it was the yarn that the pattern called for. . .and now (surprise, surprise), there is a knitalong! To join or not to join, that is the question. . .And after that, our fourth stop was River Colors(in Rocky River). Honestly, I did not see what anyone purchased there, but I did see the bags of yummy yarns in the back of Andrea's car as we left there! lolAfter a full day of yarn shopping, and inhaling those intoxicating yarn fumes, what can a knitter do? Well, since we all ended up back at the farm, Andrea showed us how to "call" the chickens. . .just throw a tomato, or a piece of squash, and they go running after it, with the roosters cock-a-doodle-doing all the way! (I even heard a little William Tell Overature in the background. . .)If you are out of tomatoes and squash, just bust open a pumpkin. . .. . .that's right. . .a pumpkin. . .seriously gourmet meal here!At the end of the day, all the knitters were tired from the shopping, and the laughing, and the riding, and the throwing of the produce, so we all went home to cast on something new. . .after we said good-bye to the chickens, of course!

And now, after 3 days of recovery, I am working on some Baby Booties, and socks and new baby sweaters shall be cast on soon for the coming of Grandbaby Number One! Stay tuned, and. . .

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About Me

I am a knitter and crafter in Northeast Ohio. My hubby and I were once high-school sweethearts. We now have an empty nest, with our children grown and gone, and we look forward to many years of spoiling our grandchildren!